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"Just Look At Me"

Last week, as I was out for my early morning run, I was reminded of a very important truth.


In the early morning, especially a drizzly morning, there seems to be all kinds of drippy noises. My half fogged-up glasses were playing tricks on me too. I glanced into the trees at my side and noticed that fear was creeping in. (It doesn't help, either, that everyone - except my Dad - thinks I'm crazy for going for early morning runs. See my previous post.) Then I heard my Heavenly Prince say "Just look at Me and you have nothing to fear."


I was reminded of a story I'd recently read from Voice Of The Martyrs. A church was being attacked and all of the Christians inside were beginning to be afraid. They were turning around to look behind them at the mob of angry people. The pastor asked them if they wanted to look at the crowd and be scared, or look at him and not be afraid.


What an important truth! Where our eyes are looking makes all the difference in the world!

". . . and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; . . ." Heb. 12:1-2

Resting In Him

Learning to rest in the Lord has been such a beautiful thing. I'm sure I have a long ways to go, but it has been so fun this week to rest in Him and watch Him work out details.


I was given the responsibility of making the phone calls to invite girls to camp this week. I don't really like making phone calls (or having two cell phones to keep track of!) but it was actually kinda fun. :0) Well . . . except for two phone calls, two heart-breaking phone calls . . .


Just a few days before camp, certain details were worked out and I was given the go-ahead to call a certain county. But then other things came up and I completely forgot . . . until the day before. It's a little awkward to be calling girls the day before camp, to invite them to come. But I gave it to the Lord and was amazed out how quickly and easily I had the alloted number of girls. :0)


There are SO many details that go into camp. I couldn't even begin to tell you about them. They have all sort-of swirled together into one big "Thank You, Jesus!". The fact that we were early, instead of late, to the pick-up location, is just one of them. :0) 


The whole weekend was so peaceful. It really was a great group of girls. One of "my" girls brought a girl who had never been to camp before. Last night she told her leader that she was nervous about coming to camp because she thought everyone else would be perfect, come from perfect homes . . . "but everyone is just like me!" :0)


It's such a beautiful thing to share the love of God with these girls, and it's a whole lot easier to do when I am resting in Him. :0)

To Know You

I recently discovered "To Know You" by Casting Crowns. I really like it. I shared it with my Dad the other night, as I am considering singing it at church the next time it's my turn.



When the video was finished I mentioned to my Dad that this song is in the list of "top songs" - according to KLOVE, it's number seven!

"I'm not sure what that means."

I thought about it for a second and replied, "Me either." :0)

If this song is really a favorite song for that many Christians, wouldn't we have turned the world upside down by now?? It seems that there is a dis-connect somewhere. Dad and I talked about it for a while. He proposed that the "missing ingredient" is humility . . . . and I mentioned that maybe people didn't really understand what absolute surrender is. We both had books by Andrew Murray in mind. ;0)

So I'm curious . . . what do you think the missing ingredient is? How can we sing songs about giving up everything in order to know Jesus and go on living the way that we always have?

The Sweet Name Of Jesus

Every morning, part of our family devotions includes reading the history behind a hymn, and then if we can, we sing the hymn. We were given "The One Year Book Of Hymns" almost two years ago, and we're not done yet. :0)  (Our schedule with camp plays a huge part in that.) The first year we read through all the hymns we knew and now, this year, we've been reading the ones we don't know. I wanted to share today's with you.

Called To Fight

The other day I was reading through The Abolitionist Church Handbook, and I came across Isaiah 1:17. I decided I needed to take a closer look at this verse. (sorry if this is boring for you...I love this stuff! :0)

Learn to do good;

seek justice, correct oppression;

bring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow's cause.

This fairly short verse has FIVE commands in it! But don't let that discourage you! Every command is fulfilled as we abide in Jesus.

Are You Up For A Challenge?

In Sunday School this morning, our teacher mentioned that he came across a website last night that advertised memorizing the New Testament in five years. The whole New Testament . . . in five years!


Wow.


Wouldn't that be amazing! To have that much of the Word of God hidden in your heart.

What's Your Disposition?

I get distracted pretty easy when I am studying a passage of scripture - there's just too much good stuff in the Word! I recently returned to Romans 8 (meanwhile Eph. is waiting for me to finish Rom 6-8...haha).  Well, I really enjoyed my study of Romans 8:6, yesterday, and wanted to share it with you. :0)

For to be carnally minded is death;

but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

"To be minded" is all one word. It is only used 4 times in the New Testament, and all of them are right here in Romans 8 (twice here in verse 6, once in verse 7, and once in verse 27). "To be minded" is talking about "the tendency or inclination of the mind, it's bent. It includes the act of the understanding and of the will." Another place that I looked replaced the word "to be minded" with "disposition". I'm not sure why, but I immediately thought of Jane Austen's movies (even though I haven't watched any in quite a while...). I guess because "disposition" is not an every-day word.

I looked up "disposition" and this is what I found:

• your usual mood.
• inclination: an attitude of the mind, especially one that favors one alternative over others.
• a natural or acquired habit or characteristic tendency in a person or thing.
• a habit, a preparation, a state of readiness, or a tendency to act in a specified way.

"Carnally" is the same word that is often translated "flesh". It's the part that thinks about me, myself, and I.

What if my disposition was of the Spirit instead of "of me"?? What if I had no thought for myself, but was always willing to serve?? What if my disposition was JESUS?? Oh glorious day! As I continue to "reckon" myself dead to sin, this will happen! Every command, every promise is true EN Jesus!

Oh Abba, keep me there, en Jesus, resting, abiding, dwelling in Him . . .

Missions Trip!

I am SO excited to be going on a missions trip next month - it's been WAY too long! My brother and I are going with a local church down to Mexico for the week of Christmas. If you would like to be a part of our prayer support team, just let me know! :0)